Pivot means for doors of tilting dumping vehicles



March 8, 1966 F. F. FLOWERS 3,238,897

PIVOT MEANS FOR DOORS OF TILTING DUMPING VEHICLES Filed April 8, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet l 27 2a 3| O :FJ. 6. H! 53 FEED FORT FLOWERS INVENTOR ATTORNEYS March 8, 1966 F. F. FLOWERS PIVOT MEANS FOR DOORS 0F TILTING DUMPING VEHICLES Filed April 8, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FRED FORT F'LOLUER'S INVENT OR ByZmfiwm m ATTORNEYS March 8, 1966 Filed April 8, 1965 F. F. FLOWERS PIVOT MEANS FOR DOORS OF TILTING DUMPING VEHICLES 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 FEED FORT FLOWERS INVENTOR ATTORNEYS March 8, 1966 F. F. FLOWERS PIVOT MEANS FOR DOORS OF TILTING DUMPING VEHICLES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 8, 1965 ATTORNEYj 3,238,897 PIVQT MEANS FOR DOORS F TILTWG DUMPING VEHICLES Fred Fort Flowers, Differential Steel Car (10., Findlay, Ghio Filed Apr. 8, 1963, Ser. No. 271,349 6 Claims. (Cl. 105-276) The following specification relates to improved pivot means for floors of dump Vehicles. Dump vehicles, whether operated over a railway or on a highway and intended -for dumping or unloading alternatively to either side, are customarily designed with movable sides which constitute down-turning doors. In other words, when the vehicle is tilted to one side, the wall on that side serves as a door, being pivoted along its lower edge so that in the final discharge position that door is in approximately the plane of the tilted bottom floor. Thus it forms a continuation of the floor and serves as a chute over which the contents of the vehicle is discharged at the desired distance from the vehicle itself.

Where the length of the vehicle is too great to justify reliance solely upon the end pivots of the door, it is the usual practice to provide the door at a number of intermediate points with additional brackets hinged to the vehicle body and thus maintain the side door flat and in close relation to the vehicle bottom.

In either event there remains the problem of maintaining a close contact between the lower edge of the door and the side edge of the car floor. One of the objects of this invention is to prevent deflection and stresses at intermediate points along a door of considerable length which is hinged solely at its ends. A further object of the invention is to maintain a tight fit throughout the extensive length of the door, thus preventing sifting of fine material between the floor and the door, both in its closed and open positions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means for supporting the door at intermediate points along its length.

Among the objects of the invention is to minimize the number of moving points to reduce the cost of manufacture and 'facilitate the adjustment of a tightly fitting door.

As disclosing the prefer-red form of the invention it has been illustrated on the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an end view, with parts broken away, of a dump vehicle embodying the improved door fulcrum;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged partial side elevation of one of the side doors;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged end view of the same;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged vertical section on the line 4-4 on FIGURE 2 showing the related door and door hinge;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of the side of the vehicle;

FIGURE 6 is a vertical section on the line 6-6 on FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged detail plan view of the car floor; and

FIGURE 8 is a similar vertical section on the line 8-8 on FIGURE 7 showing the range of movement of the door.

In brief, the improved structure comprises a vehicle body supported on opposite sides of an underframe of a wheeled vehicle. Each side of the wagon body is formed as a door pivoted at its bottom edge for selective discharge when the wagon body is tilted toward that side. At each end, the door is hinged with pivots, the axis of which is an extension of the line of contact between the inner face of the door and the bottom outside edge of the floor plate.

At regular spaced intervals between the end hinges,

3,238,897 Patented Mar. 8,. 1.9166

hook-shaped extensions such as steps are attached to the floor and serve to support the bottom edge of the door against both sideward and downward deflections in all positions of the door between 'fully closed and fully open position, thereby maintaining a tight seal between the door and the floor as well as relieving the hinges of a material proportion of the load.

As illustrated, the vehicle has an underframe 11. This includes side sills 12 and laterally extending bolsters 13.

This underframe is supported upon pairs of wheels 14 connected by truck axles 15. These trucks are provided with cushion suspension means (not illustrated) for the underframe II, longitudinally disposed with respect to the wheels.

The underframe has opposite trunnion bearings 16 on each side to support the wagon body in its tilting movements.

The wagon body 1'7 includes a floor plate 18 and fixed ends 19.

Each end 19 has an inner wall 20 and exterior diagonal braces 21, 21. These braces extend for the full height of the ends and to braces, not shown, below the level of the door 18.

Centrally disposed at each end of the underframe 11 is amounting 22. This forms a pivot for holding a power cylinder 23 actuated by either pneumatic or liquid pressure. The cylinder carries a slidable piston 24. The opposite end of the piston is journaled on a pivot 25 on the top edge of the end of the wagon.

Extending diagonally downward from the corners of the ends of the floor plate 18, are diagonal struts 26.

The sides of the wagon body 1'7 are formed by means of pivoted doors 27, 27. Suitably attached to the ends of the doors 27, 27 are end plates 28 (FIGURES 2 and 3). Between the end plates 28, the side doors have upper reinforcing plates 29. These are gene-rally L-shaped in cross-section and welded or otherwise attached to both the doors 27 and the end plates 28.

A lower trough or channel-shaped plate 30 is provided on the outer surface of the door 27 between the ends 28. This also is welded or otherwise attached in position.

At each end of a side door 27 there is fastened a bracket 31. This is generally triangular in shape as shown in FIGURES 1 and 3. At its lower end there is a bushing or journal 32 to receive pivot pins 33 mounted on the ends of the floor plate 18.

The hinge axis or the pivot pins 33 coincide with the bottom outside edge of the floor plate 18 and the inner surface of the door 27, which extends below the hinge axis several times as much as the thickness of the floor plate 18 (FIGURE 8).

The brackets 31 are also provided with journals 34. These receive pivot pins 35. The pivot pins in turn carry links 36.

Bell cranks 3'7, 37 are held by pivots 38 on the outer corners of the plates 26. The upper or shorter arm of each bell crank is pivoted to the adjacent link 36.

Means are provided for permitting one hell crank lever 37 to open the side door when the vehicle body is rotated on the trunnion bearings 16 on that side. At the same time this means serves to securely latch the opposite lever 37 and prevent it from either rocking or opening the door on the side of the vehicle which is being tilted upward.

For this purpose the vehicle body has two spaced de pendent sills 39, 3?. These have bases which rest loosely on the bolsters 13. A transverse angular latch bar 40 is slidably carried by the sills 39, 39. This bar extends to the inner edge of each bearing 16. The latch bar 40 has handles, not shown, by which it is reciprocated when desired.

The end of each bolster has a fixed hook 41 adjacent bearing 16. This hook is in the path of the adjacent end of the latch bar 40, thus the bar when extended to this point is prevented from rising by the hook 41, while the opposite side of the vehicle is tilted around this point as a fulcrum.

In this tilted position a detent 42 on the bell crank 37 is engaged by a block 43 on the latch bar 40. This prevents the adjacent bell crank 37 from dropping and releasing the upper side door 27.

The above construction is more fully disclosed and claimed in the copending application of Fred Fort Flowers, Serial No. 157,985.

The present invention provides improvements and advantages over the above structure when the length of the vehicle is such that there is likelihood of the lower edge of the side door warping or being bent out of sliding contact with the outer edge of the floor plate 18.

For this purpose the side edges of the floor plate 18 are provided at regular intervals with hook-shaped extensions or steps 45. These project beyond the edge of the floor plate 18 as shown more particularly in FIGURE 8. The step 45 is securely fastened to the under-surface of the plate 18 by the bolt 46 and nut 47 shown in FIGURE 8. Welding 51 is also provided for securing the two parts together.

It will be evident that the front or hook end 48 of the step 45 extends beyond the edge of the plate 18 far enough to permit the side door 27 to pass between the two, when the door is in elevated or closed position. The outer end 48 has a flat area 53 with curved edges 49, 49' which forms a support for the door 27 in lowered position substantially parallel with the plate 18 as shown in dotted lines.

The step 45 on its upper edge has a curved surface 50. This surface 50 forms a support for the door 27 in closed position and permits an easy sliding movement when the door is opened. In this movement the inner surface of the door 27 is maintained in contact with the lower edge of the plate 18 by means of the edge 49.

It will be seen that the end 48 has a sloping inner surface 52 coinciding with the outer surface of the bot tom extension of the door plate 27 when the latter is in closed position. The edge between the end 48 and this sloping surface 52 is preferably rounded slightly to reduce the local contact unit pressure against the supported door plate during opening. The curved surface 50 on the step is out of contact with the bottom edge of the door plate 27 in all positions of the door except the fully closed position.

With the design of this pivoting means it is possible to provide a down-turning side door for a tilting dump vehicle such that the door is maintained in closed contact with the edge of the floor in all positions. This is insured by the end 48, when the door side 27 is in closed position. If the door side is turned out during the tilting operation of the door, the space between the edge of the bottom and the hook-end 48 is such that the side door 27 is held substantially in contact with the lower edge of the bottom 18. Thus there is little likelihood of any fine material being lost through the crack between the two plates.

In a fully tilted position, the plate 27 is substantially parallel to the lower surface of the bottom 18, so that in this position no loss of material is possible.

The curvature of the surface provides maximum clearance for the lower edge of the plate 27, and thus an absence of friction.

In dismantling the door side, the latter is slipped out from above the step 45 without effort.

The improved device is simple, with a minimum of moving parts, inexpensive to assemble and readily adjusted to a close fit.

The preferred form of the invention having been described, it is understood that minor changes are possible in proportions and material without departing from the invention as defined in the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A side dump car body comprising a bottom having side edges, pivots on the opposite ends of each side of said bottom, a downwardly-opening side door plate journaled on the pivots on each side of said bottom with the inner face of said side door plate contacting and extending be low the side edge of said bottom, and steps spaced along said side edges of said bottom and extending outwardly beyond and below said side edges and the lower edge of the adjacent side door plate and being directly engageable with the lower edge and the outer face of said adjacent side door plate to support said adjacent side door plate and maintain the inner face of said adjacent side door plate in contact with said bottom.

2. The side dump car body as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said steps has a curved upper surface which is directly engageable with the lower edge of its adjacent side door plate only when its adjacent side door plate is in its fully closed position,

3. The side dump car body as defined in claim 2, wherein each of said steps is further provided with an upwardly extending hook portion which is directly engageable with the outer face of its adjacent side door plate and wherein said hook portion has an inner surface disposed in the slope of its adjacent side door plate when its adjacent side door plate is in its fully closed position and wherein the lower extremity of said inner surface inter- Cepts the outer extremity of said curved upper surface.

4. The side dump car body as defined in claim 3, wherein said inner surface is curved outwardly at its upper extremity.

5. The side dump car body has defined in claim 1, wherein each of said steps is provided with an upwardly extending hook portion which is directly engageable with the outer face of its adjacent side door plate.

6. In a tiltable dump vehicle having an underframe, a car body including a bottom having side edges, journal bearings on the underframe for said car body, means on the underframe for tilting the car body around the journal bearings towards each side of the underframe, pivots on the opposite ends of each side of said bottom, a downwardly-opening side door plate journaled on the pivots on each side of said bottom with the inner face of said side door plate contacting and extending below the side edge of said bottom, and steps spaced along said side edges and extending outwardly beyond and below said side edges and the lower edge of the adjacent side door plate and being directly engageable with the lower edge and the outer face of said adjacent side door plate to support said adjacent side door plate and maintain the inner face of said adjacent side door plate in contact with said bottom.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 218,996 8/1879 Merz et a1 29658 425,620 4/1890 McDowell 296--58 479,810 8/1892 Johnson 29658 1,022,296 4/1912 Brelsford 296-14 1,079,691 11/1913 Burnett 280 1,089,392 3/1914 Burnett 105424 1,285,024 11/1918 Burnett 105-256 X 1,958,549 5/1934 Purcell et al. 105424 X 2,143,934 1/1939 Burner 105-273 2,428,629 10/1947 Kordish et al. 105276 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

LEO QUACKENBUSH, MILTON BUCHLER,

Examiners. 

1. A SIDE DUMP CAR BODY COMPRISING A BOTTOM HAVING SIDE EDGES, PIVOTS ON THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF EACH SIDE OF SAID BOTTOM, A DOWNWARDLY-OPENING SIDE DOOR PLATE JOURNALED ON THE PIVOTS ON EACH SIDE OF SAID BOTTOM WITH THE INNER FACE OF SAID SIDE DOOR PLATE CONTACTING AND EXTENDING BELOW THE SIDE EDGE OF SAID BOTTOM, AND STEPS SPACED ALONG SAID SIDE EDGES OF SAID BOTTOM AND EXTENDING OUTWARDLY BEYOND AND BELOW SAID SIDE EDGES AND THE LOWER EDGE OF THE ADJACENT SIDE DOOR PLATE AND BEING DIRECTLY ENGAGEABLE WITH THE LOWER EDGE AND THE OUTER FACE OF SAID ADJACENT SIDE DOOR PLATE TO SUPPORT SAID ADJACENT SIDE DOOR PLATE AND MAINTAIN THE INNER FACE OF SAID ADJACENT SIDE DOOR PLATE IN CONTACT WITH SAID BOTTOM. 